Monday, July 30, 2012

An election should be
decided on issues and ideas, and the problem with Mitt Romney is either (A)
he has been on all sides of an issue or (B) he has refused to state what his
position is on an issue. This latter
problem has been particularly severe with respect to Mr. Romney’s economic
policy. He just refuses to give any
specifics.

So Businessweek has a
short excerpt from an interview with Gelnn Hubbard, former Bush economic
advisor (okay, not the best of credentials), current Dean of Columbia Business
School (okay, better credentials) and economic adviser to the Romney campaign
(no problem on credentials, doesn’t need them for that job). Mr. Hubbard strongly
responds to the lack of specifics in the Romney agenda.

Can you be more specific about
the Romney plan?

It means tax reform
that could raise long-term growth over the next decade by about half a
percentage point every year. It means entitlement reform that removes the
chance of large tax increases. It means getting federal spending down to its
traditional share of GDP. It means getting regulation that actually passes
cost-benefit analysis, something this administration has not done. And free trade.

Wow there it is, tax
reform, that will mean a one half of one percentage point increase in the
growth rate, entitlement reform and cost-benefit regulations. Those are specifics you just cannot get from
anyone else.

What does this tell
us, it tells us that like Mr. Romney, Mr. Hubbard is absolutely clueless in
what policy would be implemented in a Romney administration. Remember that word ‘clueless’, it will be
around a lot if Mr. Romney wins.